KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Blue Springs-native Kara Eaker, a former gymnastics national team member and two-time world champion, announced her retirement this week citing alleged abuse at the University of Utah.
The 20-year-old Eaker said Friday in an Instagram post that she was also withdrawing from the school.
In the Instagram post from Oct. 21, Eaker said that, "For two years, while training with the Utah Gymnastics team, I was a victim of verbal and emotional abuse.'
She added that she had been seeing a university athletics psychologist for a year and a half, and is now seeing a new provider twice a week.
"I have recently been diagnosed with severe anxiety and depression, anxiety induced insomnia, and I suffer from panic attacks, PTSD, and night terrors," Eaker says.
Eaker, an alternate for the U.S. Olympic team in 2021, competed for Utah for the past two seasons and helped lead the team to back-to-back third-place finishes at the NCAA championships.
While not naming any coaches directly, Eaker said much of the abuse she experienced took place in individual meetings with "an overpowering coach."
In an ESPN articleearlier this week, Utah officials did not immediately provide a comment. This article will be updated if one is provided.
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